40 Minute Mentor

Episode 284

March 19, 2025

Vegard Medbø: Building a portfolio valued at $4.8B with Antler

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Vegard Medbø, Co-Founder and COO at Antler, the global early-stage fund helping entrepreneurs go from zero to one.

Before founding Antler, Vegard spent his early career in the Coastal Ranger Command of the Norwegian Armed Forces and at McKinsey, where he worked with the world’s top energy companies, helping them apply machine learning to renewable and non-renewable energy.

Since founding Antler, the team have invested in over 1,000 companies addressing meaningful challenges and opportunities across six continents.

“Even the best companies we know today, that are super successful today and make it all look super easy from the outside, had hundreds of investors, customers and employees who said ‘No’ to them.”

Vegard Medbø

Tune in to discover

➡️ Lessons from the Military [04:00]

➡️ The beginnings of Antler [09:00]

➡️ More about Antler’s successful portfolio [12:00]

➡️ Lessons from the beginning of Antler that still hold true today [15:00]

➡️ The perfect Founder for Antler [18:00]

➡️ International expansions [20:00]

➡️ Why you need optimism as a Founder [25:00]

➡️ Predictions for the next decade in Tech [31:30]

Listen on

Helpful links

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Bonus: Corinne Thompson on preparing for your fundraise

George Robson: Becoming a Partner at Sequoia at the age of 25

Molly Alter: Starting early in VC & building a transatlantic focus in vertical AI with Northzone

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